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A Needlecraft Mystery #4-6
Sew Far, So Good [With Needlework Patterns]
Available for the first time in one three mysteries from the USA Today bestselling author of the Needlecraft series... Shop owner and part-time sleuth Betsy Devonshire has a knack for stumbling upon dead bodies?and it?s entangled her in more than one knotty situation. Here in one volume are three of Betsy?s adventures as a not-so-seamless investigator. Includes Unraveled Sleeve, A Murderous Yarn, and Hanging by a Thread.
Paperback
First published December 1, 2009
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About the author
Monica Ferris
27 books495 followersHas published as
Mary Monica Pulver (real name)
Mary Kuhfeld
Margaret Frazer (with Gail Frazer)
[from the author's own website)
Mary Monica Pulver (her maiden name) is an incidental Hoosier — Terre Haute, Indiana, had the hospital closest to her parents’ home in Marshall, Illinois. She spent the later part of her childhood and early adult life in Wisconsin, graduating from high school in Milwaukee.
She was a journalist in the U.S. Navy for six and a half years (two in London), and later attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is married to a museum curator.
Mary Monica sold her first short story, “Pass the Word,” to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, in 1983, and has since sold more than two dozen short stories to anthologies and magazines, including some in Germany, England, Italy and France.
She has appeared in such anthologies as The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives, The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits, Shakespearean Mysteries, Royal Whodunnits, Unholy Orders, Murder Most Crafty, and Silence of the Loons. Her first mystery novel, Murder at the War, appeared from St. Martin’s Press in 1987 and was nominated for an Anthony as Best First Novel. The Unforgiving Minutes and Ashes to Ashes followed in 1988; but Original Sin was sold to Walker, who also presented the fifth book, Show Stopper, in May of 1992. Berkley Diamond brought these mysteries out in paperback. They feature detective Peter Brichter – a cop one reviewer said was “a hardboiled sleuth who’s somehow landed in a cozy mystery”.
Berkley published six medieval mysteries Mary Monica wrote in collaboration with Gail Frazer under the pseudonym Margaret Frazer: The Novice’s Tale, The Servant’s Tale (nominated for an Edgar as Best Original Paperback of 1993), The Outlaw’s Tale, The Bishop’s Tale, The Boy’s Tale, and The Murderer’s Tale. The detective in the mysteries is a nun, Dame Frevisse, a niece by marriage of Thomas Chaucer, the legendary Geoffrey’s son. The stories take place in England in the 1430s. Gail presently continues the series alone.
In 1998 Mary Monica began writing a new series for Berkley featuring amateur needleworking sleuth Betsy Devonshire. Set in Excelsior, Minnesota, Crewel World came out in March and was followed by Framed in Lace, A Stitch in Time, Unraveled Sleeve, A Murderous Yarn, Hanging by A Thread, Cutwork, Crewel Yule, Embroidered Truths, Sins and Needles, Knitting Bones, Thai Die, Blackwork, and Buttons and Bones. Threadbare will appear in December of 2011, and she is at work on And Then You Dye. The first six were paperback originals. Subsequent books were hardcovers followed by paperback editions. These light and traditional novels are written under the pseudonym Monica Ferris, and all have gone to multiple printings – the first one is in its eighteenth printing!
Mary Monica has taught courses on mystery writing to children at North Hennepin Community College, gifted children in District #287, and adults at one-evening seminars at Hennepin and Ramsey County libraries. She does lectures and signings, and has appeared on panels at mystery and science fiction conventions, including Bouchercon, Minicon, Diversicon, Magna Cum Murder, and Malice Domestic.
She has spoken to stitchery guilds on local, state, and national levels. She has won a place on national and local best-seller lists, including USA Today and the independent mystery bookstore compilation. She is a member of Sisters in Crime (a national organization that promotes women who write mystery fiction), remains a paid speaker on the life of a mystery author, and is a volunteer for Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, and in
Mary Monica Pulver (real name)
Mary Kuhfeld
Margaret Frazer (with Gail Frazer)
[from the author's own website)
Mary Monica Pulver (her maiden name) is an incidental Hoosier — Terre Haute, Indiana, had the hospital closest to her parents’ home in Marshall, Illinois. She spent the later part of her childhood and early adult life in Wisconsin, graduating from high school in Milwaukee.
She was a journalist in the U.S. Navy for six and a half years (two in London), and later attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is married to a museum curator.
Mary Monica sold her first short story, “Pass the Word,” to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, in 1983, and has since sold more than two dozen short stories to anthologies and magazines, including some in Germany, England, Italy and France.
She has appeared in such anthologies as The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives, The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits, Shakespearean Mysteries, Royal Whodunnits, Unholy Orders, Murder Most Crafty, and Silence of the Loons. Her first mystery novel, Murder at the War, appeared from St. Martin’s Press in 1987 and was nominated for an Anthony as Best First Novel. The Unforgiving Minutes and Ashes to Ashes followed in 1988; but Original Sin was sold to Walker, who also presented the fifth book, Show Stopper, in May of 1992. Berkley Diamond brought these mysteries out in paperback. They feature detective Peter Brichter – a cop one reviewer said was “a hardboiled sleuth who’s somehow landed in a cozy mystery”.
Berkley published six medieval mysteries Mary Monica wrote in collaboration with Gail Frazer under the pseudonym Margaret Frazer: The Novice’s Tale, The Servant’s Tale (nominated for an Edgar as Best Original Paperback of 1993), The Outlaw’s Tale, The Bishop’s Tale, The Boy’s Tale, and The Murderer’s Tale. The detective in the mysteries is a nun, Dame Frevisse, a niece by marriage of Thomas Chaucer, the legendary Geoffrey’s son. The stories take place in England in the 1430s. Gail presently continues the series alone.
In 1998 Mary Monica began writing a new series for Berkley featuring amateur needleworking sleuth Betsy Devonshire. Set in Excelsior, Minnesota, Crewel World came out in March and was followed by Framed in Lace, A Stitch in Time, Unraveled Sleeve, A Murderous Yarn, Hanging by A Thread, Cutwork, Crewel Yule, Embroidered Truths, Sins and Needles, Knitting Bones, Thai Die, Blackwork, and Buttons and Bones. Threadbare will appear in December of 2011, and she is at work on And Then You Dye. The first six were paperback originals. Subsequent books were hardcovers followed by paperback editions. These light and traditional novels are written under the pseudonym Monica Ferris, and all have gone to multiple printings – the first one is in its eighteenth printing!
Mary Monica has taught courses on mystery writing to children at North Hennepin Community College, gifted children in District #287, and adults at one-evening seminars at Hennepin and Ramsey County libraries. She does lectures and signings, and has appeared on panels at mystery and science fiction conventions, including Bouchercon, Minicon, Diversicon, Magna Cum Murder, and Malice Domestic.
She has spoken to stitchery guilds on local, state, and national levels. She has won a place on national and local best-seller lists, including USA Today and the independent mystery bookstore compilation. She is a member of Sisters in Crime (a national organization that promotes women who write mystery fiction), remains a paid speaker on the life of a mystery author, and is a volunteer for Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, and in
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 30, 2012
This is a compilation of books 4-6 of the Needlecraft mystery series. Book 4, "Unraveled Sleeve", has Betsy suffering from nightmares and being harassed by salespeople who have found out about her inheritance from her sister. She decides to join her friend Jill on a stitching retreat to a remote location in northern Minnesota at a lodge with no TVs or phones in the rooms. She meets a fellow stitcher who has hopes of reconciling with her husband, and after another disturbing dream while resting in the lounge, she goes back to her room and is stunned to find the woman dead on the bed. When she returns with help, she finds that the woman has vanished. Was she dreaming or was this real? When the guest lecturer never shows up for the retreat, Jill and Betsy begin to suspect foul play and start to investigate. I enjoyed the asides on the stitching of the challenges of working with Krenik metallic threads- they look beautiful, but you have to learn how to manage them!
Book 5, "A Murderous Yarn" involves Jill's boyfriend buys a steam powered antique car as his latest hobby. Betsy becomes fascinated and offers to sponsor him and to also help out for the local race/parade of a variety of antique cars. When one of the drivers ends up dead apparently due to an fire in the car, Betsy feels compelled to help find out the answers when the death turns out to be suspicious. Filled with details on the cars, there is less stitching detail in this one, although stitching does play a key role in solving the mystery.
Book 6, "Hanging by a Thread" is set around Halloween. Betsy has hired a local contractor to fix the building's roof. She is very pleased with his work, but is stunned to find that the man is shunned in her community due to the suspicion that he was involved with the murder of his lover and her abusive husband. He begs Betsy to help put an end to the innuendo and insinuations and find the truth. Plagued by a customer who seems to have her own personal poultergeist, and stories of ghosts, Betsy resolves to find out the truth and find out who the true killer is. She must confront prejudice within her town and make people open their eyes to other possibilities.
Each book section contains a cross-stitch pattern at the end, with some relationship to the story.
Book 5, "A Murderous Yarn" involves Jill's boyfriend buys a steam powered antique car as his latest hobby. Betsy becomes fascinated and offers to sponsor him and to also help out for the local race/parade of a variety of antique cars. When one of the drivers ends up dead apparently due to an fire in the car, Betsy feels compelled to help find out the answers when the death turns out to be suspicious. Filled with details on the cars, there is less stitching detail in this one, although stitching does play a key role in solving the mystery.
Book 6, "Hanging by a Thread" is set around Halloween. Betsy has hired a local contractor to fix the building's roof. She is very pleased with his work, but is stunned to find that the man is shunned in her community due to the suspicion that he was involved with the murder of his lover and her abusive husband. He begs Betsy to help put an end to the innuendo and insinuations and find the truth. Plagued by a customer who seems to have her own personal poultergeist, and stories of ghosts, Betsy resolves to find out the truth and find out who the true killer is. She must confront prejudice within her town and make people open their eyes to other possibilities.
Each book section contains a cross-stitch pattern at the end, with some relationship to the story.
February 16, 2024
I had read the third story in a stand alone book. It was nice to be brought up to date on several relationships in this anthology. I knew Lars Larson's Stanley Steamer but "A Murderous Yarn" starts when Lars first bought the Steamer as well as the joining the Antique Car Run. The murder happens on the run from New London to New Brighton was Betty providing the alibi for the murder?
In "unraveled Sleeve"you get to see Betty and Jill at a stich-in for some quite time. Of course there is a body but then they can't find the body. Who benefits from her dying?
In "unraveled Sleeve"you get to see Betty and Jill at a stich-in for some quite time. Of course there is a body but then they can't find the body. Who benefits from her dying?
February 7, 2014
I went and borrowed this one from the library, as I was interested in mysteries. I read through it the last few days, and decided to get the first few books, and now have almost the entire series, minus the books that I'd read already.
Betsy is a likeable enough character, who solves crimes. She's not overly enthused about the crime solving, which makes for a change of most detectives that I read, but she's fairly good at it. She inherits a sewing shop-Crewel World, which is the title of the first book that I've yet to read-and winds up inheriting a lot of problems along with it.
With interesting characters, a flair of drama here and there, and a bunch of tips about sewing, you'll either love it or leave it.
Betsy is a likeable enough character, who solves crimes. She's not overly enthused about the crime solving, which makes for a change of most detectives that I read, but she's fairly good at it. She inherits a sewing shop-Crewel World, which is the title of the first book that I've yet to read-and winds up inheriting a lot of problems along with it.
With interesting characters, a flair of drama here and there, and a bunch of tips about sewing, you'll either love it or leave it.
November 8, 2009
I requested this from the library without realizing that it's a compilation of 3 previously-published Needlecraft Mystery books, and I've read them all. If you haven't already read these volumes, they're part of an enjoyable cozy series featuring a needlecraft shop owner as the amateur sleuth.
Read
August 3, 2009good read ,
March 29, 2010
As per usual I loved this book that had 3 books in 1. :) This Needle Craft Series is really good, I love the Characters.
Read
January 13, 2013Great - Betsy is a super sleuth
August 22, 2014
Three books (4,5,6) in one.
January 18, 2015
Local writer. Light fun read.
August 12, 2015
Unraveled Sleeve *3 stars*
A Murderous Yarn *3 stars*
Hanging by a Thread *4 stars*
A Murderous Yarn *3 stars*
Hanging by a Thread *4 stars*
June 23, 2013
Quick read. Light mystery takes only a little while to read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews